~ I got tired of the academic job situation, so I joined the US Navy. But I'll be back, Ivory Tower.

I’m gonna walk a fine line here. Lord, don’t let me trip.

So it’s been almost 2 months since my last post. I didn’t intend to abandon this blogging enterprise–it just kind of got crazy with moving up to Virginia Beach and settling into CONTROL. And then immediately after beginning CONTROL, I wasn’t sure if I should continue blogging.

This is because pretty much from Day One my experiences at work can be summed up as one big smart ass “I can’t talk about it (if I wish to remain employed).” Which dried up all of my blog topics. Truth is, I still don’t have a blog topic. We’ll see how this goes.

One thing I can address is whether what is disseminated in American media is really “the news,” to which I have 2 answers:

Firstly, I don’t know what I don’t know. There’s *guaranteed* loads of stuff going on that I know nothing about. Therefore, no, what is disseminated in American media is not “the news”.

Secondly, us Intel peeps get a lot–most, in fact–of our information from the Open Source (information in the public domain). I’d show you this, but for whatever reason, even though the Open Source Center is just a regular website full of your basic news, unfortunately, you need a government email to access it. (I’d take a screenshot of the splash page, but I don’t remember my password and–prepare to cringe here–I’ve got it written down at work.) If you want a workaround, well, we also listen to NPR. Therefore, yes, what is disseminated in American media is really “the news”.

One bizarre fact is that you readers are better able to learn more about state secrets on a daily basis than I am because, being employed by the US government as I am, I am not allowed to access WikiLeaks on government computers, or again, it’s a pack up your desk, turn in your badge and leave situation. This means that unless I peruse the site regularly at home–and I’m not even sure that’s a good idea, honestly–I have to wait until NPR tells me about the most recent revelation. God, I hope that what is disseminated in American media is really “the news”.

So I can give you a general overview about what we do (we will see if these are my famous last words). We write papers and give presentations on zones around the world that are either America’s enemies (North Korea, Iran…I’m pointing to you two) or are hotspots of political and social unrest. And yes, that’s a broad brush, and yes, we care about all of these zones. What’s cool is whatever your personal interests, you can pursue them. So one student is into European Islamic radicalization, so he reads on that topic a lot. A lot of people research ISIS (we are all reading this fabulous article in the March 2015 issue of The Atlantic–you should too). Me, I’m monitoring the looting of antiquities to fund terrorism, along with the general destruction of archaeological sites by bombing (Aleppo, Syria being one example) or just because extremists frequently turn out to be serious a**holes. Looting archaeology doesn’t raise as many hackles in the general public as burning people alive does, but consider: The sale of looted antiquities found at one archaeological site in Syria in spring 2014 by ISIS brought in $36 million (read more at National Geographic). ONE archaeological site. In November 2014, it is thought that ISIS has strategic control over than 4,000 archaeological sites. Selling looted antiquities provides ISIS with one of its three sources of income (the other two sources are hostage taking and the illegal sale of oil). Two weeks ago, the United Nations Security Council addressed this problem by passing a resolution banning these transactions.

Researching topics in the news, talking about what’s going on with other people…now you see what I do at work. I daren’t say more.

Further research for you guys is to go read that Atlantic article. Seriously.

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Virginia Beach, VA, USA

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Thank you for the link to the ATLANTIC article; I will definitely read it. I am confused and frightened by the news we hear about ISIS. I don’t really understand what they want and who they are (much less how they can recruit young people from around the world to join them). It sounds like the ATLANTIC article may clarify some of these issues for me.

I am sad to hear that ISIS is raiding archeological sites and selling the artifacts. I am sure they do not care how artifacts should be extracted and information about the site preserved.(I supposed, though, that it is better than destroying the artifacts and sites, as the giant Buddhas were destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan some years ago.)

Remember that film, The Gods Must Be Crazy? When I hear news about ISIS, I think: The World Must Be Crazy

Hi there

I graduated with my Ph.D. in archaeology in 2010 and have applied for over 150 jobs since then. In the past year I decided to join the US Navy for the next four years, and try academia again when I get out. I live (presently) in Florida but am assured that with the Navy I will be journeying around the world. I have 2 dogs, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and they come with me.